In Conversation: Lorenzo Brown on AI's Role in Financial Leadership

Lorenzo Brown, Finance Director for Mondelez Iberia, discusses his insights on the evolving role of finance leadership in today's business environment. He is in talk with finance transformation leader of Infosys BPM, Hari Ram Madhira. Here are the key points discussed in this podcast.

Key Skills for Finance Leaders

• Business Partnership: Finance leaders must be full decision-making partners with leadership, not just consultants providing numbers
• Numeric Proficiency: Basic numeric skills are essential, though diverse educational backgrounds can succeed in finance
• Business Understanding: Deep knowledge of business operations and industry trends is crucial
• Communication Skills: The ability to communicate complex financial information clearly to non-finance colleagues is a key differentiator

Managing Business Challenges

• Focus on essentials and prioritize effectively
• Ensure the organization understands and buys into the strategy
• Talent management is increasingly important as careers progress
• Data must be transformed into insights and actionable decisions

Technology's Impact on Finance

• Technology has made finance more productive rather than changing core job activities
• Processes that once took hours now take minutes, allowing more time for analysis
• Challenges include data quality concerns and potential information overload
• Human judgment remains essential for validating automated outputs

Technology Implementation Challenges

• Business needs should drive technological choices, not the other way around
• End-user perspective is often overlooked in large technology implementations
• Communication between technical teams and business users is critical

Approach to AI

• Businesses should explore AI applications
• Data protection is one of the concerns
• Human oversight should remain essential even as AI adoption increases

Risk and Compliance

• Compliance is non-negotiable; no one should cut corners
• Risk is managed carefully within the compliance framework
• Finance helps ensure risks are measured and controlled across the organization

About the Speakers

Lorenzo Brown – Finance Director, Iberia, Mondelēz International
Lorenzo Brown is a seasoned finance leader with over 20 years of international experience in the pharmaceutical and food industries. A Belgian national, he has held key finance roles in Germany, Switzerland, and for the past 13 years, in Spain.

As Finance Director for Iberia at Mondelēz International, Lorenzo brings deep expertise in financial planning and analysis, having worked across both corporate headquarters and market-facing business units. His career is marked by a strong ability to collaborate with diverse teams—local and remote, internal and external—to drive strategic decision-making and business performance in complex, multinational environments.

Hari Ram, Finance Transformation Leader – Infosys BPM
Hari Ram, the Finance Transformation Lead at Infosys BPM, collaborates closely with CFO's organizations to drive and achieve their Finance agenda encompassing technology and business processes. As part of our exploration into AI's applications across various domains, Hari is engaging with industry leaders to grasp the implications of AI and identify crucial insights and potential considerations. Stay tuned for valuable perspectives on the evolving landscape of AI and its significance. #FinanceTransformation #AI #InfosysBPM.